The Nintendo DS's dirty little 'secret'

The following is a true story: I'm walking through San Francisco's Chinatown, down a well-hidden side street. The mysterious person I had contacted earlier on Craigslist had instructed me to stand near a trinket store at the corner of "Lost" and "Tourist." Eventually, a petite Asian girl walks up and asks, "Nintendo DS?" I nod, forking over some cash. She gives me an R4. All this trouble for what amounts to a cartridge that you pop into a Nintendo DS. Why do I feel so dirty? Because Nintendo--and some members of the media--tell me to feel that way.

Let me back up for a second. I love my Nintendo DS Lite. And Nintendo has done a fantastic job supporting this device. It's the perfect traveling companion--any platform that can have me defending castles one second and coming up with cooking recipes the next can't be half bad. (I'm serious about the cooking thing; right now I'm testing out the Jamie Oliver interactive cookbook and shopping guide.) But I've been wanting more.

When I first heard about the hard-to-find R4--a device that resembles a Nintendo DS cartridge but has a microSD card slot--I was intrigued. But I heard the buzz, too: "It allows you to play pirated Nintendo DS games. Just copy files from a PC to the microSD card, and pop that into the R4." I'm no pirate! I support the guys who make my games! So at the time I decided to steer clear.

But the R4 isn't just the key to pirate booty. The homebrew community has latched onto this elusive, illicit device too. Yes, some unsavory sorts pirate software, but indie game designers are crafting their own DS software and sharing it freely with the world. Sudoku puzzles. "Choose Your Own Adventure"-type "books." Legal emulators for freeware adventure games, such as ScummVM. Arcade-worthy shooting games. Heck, folks have even made Web browsers, photo viewers, MP3 players, and e-book readers.

That brings me back to my "dark deed": I bought an R4--not to pilfer games illegally, but to try incredible indie projects. Here are just a few of the completely legitimate programs waiting for you. (I found a bunch at the GBAX Coding Competition page.)

Puzzle Games

StillAliveDS is a 2D tribute to the popular PC action-puzzle game Portal. It's fully playable on the DS touch screen. Want to create your own levels? You can. Check out the StillAliveDS site for more info. Or just watch a video of it in action:StillAliveDS, 2D Portal For DS

Maybe you like old-school puzzle games where you push blocks around a room. Caisses DS has you covered. How about a well-polished round of sudoku? Skinz Sudoku, by Mollusk Games, is a great, completely free brain bender (scroll down toward the end of this page).

Adventure Games

Raise your hand if you remember "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. Well, the slightly more hard-core--and infinitely cooler--Lone Wolf series is getting converted into DS games, where you make choices, have an inventory, roll a die, and battle enemies. These are amazing-looking, professional efforts that I would probably pay money for (in fact, the Lone Wolf DS site has a Donate button...hint, hint). Another freeware nod to the adventure crowd is ScummVM. I've talked about this on multiple occasions, so here's the short version: classic PC adventure games, ported to function on just about every platform known to man. You can download a version that works on the Nintendo DS at the ScummVM site.

Arcade Action

Geo Wars is a fantastic freebie--a shooting game that has you piloting around an arena, shooting anything that gets in your way. Go to the creator's Geo Wars page and grab this really fun, really fast, and really addictive little game. Into racing? Then you need to see Whee DS, a 3D space-racing game that looks like a low-fi take on WipeOut. I know, it sounds crazy, but check out the video.

The screen was particularly good. It is bright and visible from most angles, however heat is an issue, particularly around the Windows button on the front, and on the back where the battery housing is located.

My first impression after unboxing the Q702 is that it is a nice looking unit. Styling is somewhat minimalist but very effective. The tablet part, once detached, has a nice weight, and no buttons or switches are located in awkward or intrusive positions.

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